Over the past few days, I’ve recruited a few millennials to the “dark side” (aka to join Twitter) after explaining what the “point” of it really is.
I’m a little proud of this accomplishment, but it led me to write about the “next thing” that will become mainstream… now that random banks in Nebraska, a cat, and even a talking book have appeared on Twitter… I’d say it’s time to delve into something new.
Most of us have access to a video camera and microphone (especially if you have a mac… and many netbooks now have cameras embedded in them too)… so you might be thinking Skype (obvi).. but what about a video chat conference that integrates chat in a web interface, while also maintaining anonymity? Answer: TinyChat. (ps I fell in love with this web app during a mashable live chat during the facebook username golive).
IMO, tinychat could have some awesome uses - BUT moderation will be key, as even the mashable chat had a few spammers.
If chats aren’t your thing (and you don’t have a flipcam, but you do have one of these camera phones), you can set up a (free) livestream from your phone to the ‘net with Qik. Mrs.Kutcher is a fan… and so is carnival cruise lines? You can also integrate Qik with your twitter and facebook accounts.
For a more intense session of live streaming, you can use LiveStream (which also integrates with Qik believe it or not), which allows you, the camera holder, to both a virtual television studio and embeddable video player, offering users the opportunity to produce and broadcast Web video in the manner of a television network. Users can stream live video or broadcast pre-recorded video in their channels, utilizing multiple cameras and on-screen graphics. (via wikipedia)
There seem to be a variety of options for on-demand live video broadcasting, and I’ve only highlighted a few here…
Continuing along with my current theme of managing your digital identity (or multiple identities if that’s more your style), I’ve realized that not everyone is aware that things could, well, be a little bit easier with the introduction of the right tools.
Consider the following situations and my proposed answers (comment if you have something to add that I forgot!)…
Situation #1: You work at a company that has a need to automate some of your backend efforts on twitter. Say you have an RSS feed, but don’t always have time to post new items.
Answer: Tie in your RSS feed with Twitter, so when a new item is posted, things “auto-tweet.” HootSuite does this in an easy-to-use and configure web interface that also allows you to set timetables for posting (gotta love auto-tweeting…)
Situation #2: You run a pod/lifecast called millennious podcasting and you could really use a way to manage both accounts, as you work a full-time job during the week and don’t always have that special “tweeting” time.
Answer: Updating from “web” all the time is a #twitterupdatefail. Legit. Check out one of the multiple desktop clients where you can tie in multiple accounts. Seesmic Desktop is a top one (cross-platform and ties in facebook too, with unlimited accounts), Nambu, Tweet Deck,
Situation #3: Facebook. Twitter. You want to update twitter status more often than your facebook status, but sometimes you want to update both simultaneously. (You’re just choosy and that’s ok!)
Answer: Selective Twitter updates via Facebook. Install this app on your facebook account, and a simple #fb at the END of your tweets will update your facebook status. easy enough, right?
Situation #4: You have multiple people updating a single twitter account and you need a way to manage it all. (aka tweeting for two or more, hehe)
Answer: Co-Tweet seems to be the app of choice for corporations (and from the screen shots it looks awesome), as it allows you to manage multiple authors in a single account (nobody likes duplication of efforts.) This article from Mashable gives a large list of alternative options.
**note: no one should be going to a third party site to shorten urls, upload photos… these are features available in tools listed above!!!! DONT SETTLE!
With the go-live of the facebook vanity urls when the clock struck midnight (no, I did not turn back into a pumpkin..) the rush to claim one’s digital real estate by the 200,000 people in 3 minutes truly makes even the most skeptical person believe that social media is making more than just a digital impact.
Therefore.. one issue we are all faced with is “How do I link people to all of my accounts!?!”, so I’ve put together a small list of how you (yes, you!) can share your list of social media outlets (the more the merrier) with everyone on the interwebs.
**Note.. before registering for any sort of social media service.. check out the digital real estate scene with a site like knowem, which will search for a username amongst 120+ social media sites… save yourself some time, eh?
Custom Icon Graphics: If you’re interested in the custom icon set (like the pretty hearts I have on my page), you can download a set of graphical icons and link to them as you see fit. See this site for high quality options.
LifeStream:
Friendfeed is one (more mainstream) outlet that allows you to link all of your accounts together, but it has limitations on the number of services you can add to your “feed.” But, it does showcase what’s you’ve been up to on one page.
Link Aggregators/Social Profiles:
DandyID - which allows you to add 320+ (who knew there were so many?) social media apps to your name. But.. it takes the whole thing one step further and verifies these accounts… so that people know it’s really you (and we like that). You can also embed the code into your blog, add a facebook app, email signature or just your normal javascript widget. thats just dandy
Google Profile is another social profile, except it’s from the makers of your favorite search engine- Google. Basically it’s another piece of online “real estate” that shows up when someone googles your name… but it’s something that you can control (i.e. you can link to twitter accounts, give some background information on yourself, etc.)
Retaggr has a pretty little widget that is pretty flexible- many “flavors” are offered, based on the medium through which you are communicating. They are also interactive, as some of your social media content – blog posts, recent photos, tweets, can be displayed in the widget.
Yes, Virginia- there is more to social media than twitter.
This picture was taken in Italy, where I was also sunburned.
First off, my apologies for the delay in posting to the Techyness. Instead of researching fun techy things for you readers, I was laying on a beach.
And of course, I got sunburned. Which made me think of what types of gadgets I wish I had with me since I couldn’t spend any additional time at the beach.
Networking: It’s important to have the ability to set up an adhoc wireless network at the drop of the hat. That’s where the MiFi Wireless Internet hub comes into play. Plus you’ll get really popular with the geekettes at the beachfront bar/pool/etc. $100 for the device, ~$60/month from verizon for service according to my man d.pogue
Charging Station: Nothing’s worse than being a guest at someone’s residence and taking up their entire surge protector with your gadgets (plus a hairdryer and straightener!). Save yourself some drained batteries and buy something like the Chargepod from callpod- which allows you to remain charged while also not taking up too much room. (~$40 + fees for connectors).
Entertainment: Not everyone has cable. And not all cable channels are awesome enough to have sweet content (lets face it, unless you’re running hulu desktop…) So, the only answer is a slingbox, which allows you to access your home TV. (~$180)
Reading: You’re either a kindle person or a book person. I believe both are perfectly acceptable forms of reading.
Additionally… make sure you have appropriate cases for your gadgets if you bring them to the beach. Blackberries DO NOT Like sand. Especially the trackwheel (it’s not a fan).
And what’s more official than a pie chart? Everyone loves colorful graphs, right?
If FriendFeed had a business intelligence reporting platform, it would be GeekChart. This site pulls in your activity from a few (more to come) sites like twitter, flikr, stumbleupon, blog rss feeds and last.fm (facebook is coming soon) and displays where your geekiness resides.
According to Geek Chart, in the past 30 days, I’m 66% twitter, 26% blog and 8% stumbleupon… [I'll have to check back when he adds additional apps]
What’s really fun is to compare your GeekChart against those of other recent geek-chart-ers via the gallery. Due to the number of “updates” that one posts to twitter, it seems to dominate the charts of others as well. (This makes sense as the proportions are determined via the RSS and ATOM feeds from these sites).
I wish it would allow you to put multiple blogs in the geek chart! What if you’re running multiple accounts? humm..
Business Card Editor via BizCardRobot (note: not real phone number, haha)
Anyway, after doing a little digging, I’m totally impressed to see that GeekChart is the creation of one dude- Steve DeGraeve, who has an entire portfolio of web apps he has developed, including the Business Card Robot, which allows you to upload a logo and add text fields easily.
Then, once you’re satisfied with your creation, the tool allows you to download it for FREE- so you can either print on your home printer or take it to Kinkos or something.
A few more of Steve’s app gems include Cube Status- a twitter visualization page that pulls all tweets from the Twitter API that mention “Cube” or “Cubicle.” This is similar to Twistori, a site that displays tweets that mention Love/Hate/Think. Also, he has an icon generator, a biorhythm generator, and even a generator that converts text to gif…
... I'd buy you a dSLR and lots of fun techy gadgets.
…I’d have a really sweet tech setup. (I already have the green dress) [via Barenaked Ladies- shoutout]
Nah, this is really just a way for me to show all the things I think are awesome… hopefully you do too.
10 Awesome Tech Gadgets and A Place to Store it All:
1. A Place to Call “Office:” Life would be different if I had one of these swedish beauties [you can't read it unless you speak swedish]
2. Really Huge Monitor: No doubt, a true setup isn’t a setup without a huge monitor hanging on the wall. Whether you use it to just watch movies on mute or just to display digital art, c’est necessaire. [I want this one. $2k]
6. Computing Power (ultra-mobile): When you need something super light and the main computer has to stay home… [Mac Book Air or anything from dynamism] oh and a case… [Kansai Leather Case, $450 / Nanda Home's lapsac $68]
8. Digital Camera: Canon all the way. Can’t go wrong with a wi-fi SD card that uploads to your laptop seamlessly and a compact camera or dslr. [eye fi sd card, $50 and Canon PowerShot, ~$250]
9.Earwear. You got it- Bluetooth never looked so sexy- Serena rocks this one in Gossip Girl [Jawbone Headset- it is assumed that you already own a blackberry or iPhone]
10. Skype Conference Phone: When you’re so money, baby, you’ll probably need a skype phone that allows multiple parties to.. well.. have a party. [IPEVO Conference Phone $199 or Yubz "Classic" Phones for a throwback $50]
Last week, those movie ticket kiosks were on my nerves.
But this week, I wanted to focus on those fun little images we all love to hate: Captcha.
You know them- the images you have to decode in order to sign up for a new account (basically to prove that you’re human).
This post is dedicated to you, little buggers, for making me feel kinda dumb sometimes.
Formally known as “”Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart,” captchas as we know them today are the product of crazy awesome people/researchers @ Carnegie Mellon, who came up with the crazy awesome (and long) term as well.
There are a variety of captchas out there, working to determine who is real and who’s a bot - I’m sure you’ve seen a few options, from text (words, phrases), object recognition (now in 3D), math, and other weird captchas.
Some captchas use their power for good (like reCaptcha’s goal of digitizing scanned texts) and others for evil (like trading captcha solving for porn).
Even though they’re frustrating and kindof annoying sometimes, I just think about how wild the Internet would be without them. Maybe my next rant of the week should be focused on those pesky bots.
In Summary: hey, I’m no Wolfram Alpha, but I matter too.
What’s interesting to me about Sockington’s growth on twitter is that it just showcases our interest in animals that can talk and have distinct personalities.
Sockington answers that lifelong question: if cats could talk, what would they say? what are they thinking? (this is very Dr. Doolittle).
LOL cats, a site that features funny pictures of cats with speech balloons showcasing their “thoughts” on a situation, proves this theory as well. Check out what these LOL cats are thinking: anything from spiders and gravity to dating.
Background on this infamous feline: According to his homepage, Sockington / Sockamillion (”socks” for short) was first spotted next to a T stop outside of Boston, where he was meowing and hoping someone or something would feed him. After being adopted, he now lives a life of luxury, tuna and cat toys while occasionally destroying things precious to everyone else but himself.
This past Thursday evening, I visited my local Albany, NY movie theater to go see State of Play with a friend. What I was expecting was to be entertained, what I was not expecting was to have my evening nearly ruined by a klunky user interface (UI).
If you just thought to yourself, “this girl is totally exaggerating,” you are 50% correct. I am, but I’m not, really.
It was at this point when I realized that not all movie ticket kiosks (kindof like men) are not made equal. Post-Google research showed that there are many companies who design and distribute these handy machines, but it just so happened that I happened upon a sub-standard one.
Sure, this situation vaguely reminds me of a Kurt Vonnegut novel, but there is some truth to it- there are some things that movie ticket theater kiosks should keep in mind.
Touch Screen Monitors are a Must: This local albany kiosk had some sort of old-school “the buttons on the sides do not line up with the items on the screen” issue. Not cool.
Don’t Time Out after 15 Seconds: The kiosk timed out while I was looking for my credit card. By the time my hand emerged from my (huge) purse with my visa ready to go, I was back to looking at the home screen. really? really?
Maintain ‘Em: After a flikr search on the subject, I found a hilarious picture of one kiosk running Windows 98 (see above- embarassing…shouldn’t it be showing the app dashboard) and a friend sent me an iPhone photo that depicts another with the blue screen of death.
Bottom line: Sometimes, it’s OK to embrace when something has reach it’s EOL (end of life)… and it’s ok to move on (like in the case of windows 98). We all did.
Wait, It's not one of the new transformers? argh..
Wolfram Alpha. The first time I heard it, I thought to myself, “Maybe it’s Optimus Prime’s older brother? Or wait, is there a sequel on the horizon?”
Regardless of how you feel about the transformers movie (with or without megan fox’s involvement), Wolfram Alpha is something cool that will impress your boss/mom/future wife or husband.
Known as a “computational knowledge engine,” Wolfram Alpha is kindof like a search engine (a webpage with a box where you enter a query and results are returned) that does something inherently different — instead of displaying a bunch of web sites, it gives you the answer.
So, no, it’s not Google.
For example, if you enter in your hometown (say, Perrysburg, Ohio), instead of getting back a link to Wikipedia or some map, the city’s population, local time, current weather forecast, elevation, and local major cities are displayed, with no clicking around to find the information. pretty cool.
For those of you who are into math, that’s what Wolfram Alpha likes, too. Enter any formula, and you’ll get a crazy awesome result set computed by Wolfram Mathematica.
We techies like to build useful applications, but what’s the fun in having the power to code if you can’t also build in a few easter eggs? Wolfram Alpha is not exempt from this overarching theme… seeing as that if you ask it “How many roads must a man walk before you can call him a man?” - it responds - “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind (according to Bob Dylan).
Miss Techyness is a 20-something, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, pearl-wearing, IT-careergirl, blackberry-using, Mac-loving, former homecoming queen and Syracuse University Alum. This is her personal blog.
The opinions expressed on this blog and on the millennious podcast are Alana's personal opinions and do not represent that of her employer, groups, or anything else past, present, or future.
